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OPINION
I n all professions, steady advances are made that ultimately lead to changes in the standard of care. In the field of medicine, for instance, new medical devices and advances in technology like artificial intelligence create innovative ways to check a patient’s health status, and codes are updated. The standard of care for architects and engineers is evolving as climate change, disasters, and emerging risks reshape industry expectations. Navigating the evolving standard of care
Lauren Martin
The standard of care with respect to each profession is established, maintained, and updated by expert testimony, generally given by members of the profession who practice in a similar location, sub- specialty, or market (based on a range of definitions). Over the years, the medical community has seen the standard of care change most rapidly due to the continual flow of new research on appropriate treatment protocols, advances in surgical techniques, along with an array of new drug therapies, and emerging health and safety concerns among others. Arguably, however, the group of professionals most recently impacted by unusual changes is the design community. When natural disasters and other catastrophic events occur, experts often surface to opine that somehow
the architects and engineers involved in the design should have anticipated the catastrophe. This includes black swan events such as terrorists flying planes into buildings, as well as other man-made disasters including container ships hitting bridges and the sudden, unforeseen collapse of a condominium. Today, the expanding scope of potential catastrophic exposures also encompasses the widespread effects of global climate change, including flooding, freezing, wildfires, drought, hurricanes, and tornadoes – in many cases, occurring in areas not previously impacted. There also have been a series of changes in the past few years to the USGS seismic map of the U.S. which has identified entirely new swaths of the country with potential earthquake exposures.
See LAUREN MARTIN, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER MARCH 31, 2025, ISSUE 1579
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